AOPA- AIRLINES’ FUNDING PROPOSAL IS A ‘CONTROL GRAB

The airlines’ proposal for funding the FAA is nothing more than an attempt to grab control of the air traffic control system and shift costs to other users, according to AOPA. Last week, the airlines announced their “statement of principles” for a new FAA funding mechanism. “The bottom line to their proposal is a user fee system in which the airlines have the loudest voice in dictating how the system will be run and who gets to use it,” said AOPA President Phil Boyer. “As I’ve said before, a user fee for some ultimately becomes a user fee for all, and that would be the death of general aviation. And it is more than ironic that a chronically bankrupt industry that has mismanaged its affairs to the point that it can’t even pay full employee pensions is now telling Congress what it ‘must’ do to run the FAA as a business.” The airline principles, announced as the “unified vision” of the 19 airline members of the Air Transportation Association (ATA) for “funding a next-generation air traffic control system,” calls for Congress to “impose a specific schedule of mandatory user charges, directly and proportionally linking system use with system costs.” And then Congress is supposed to get out of the way.